Trump defends proposed Muslim ban from U.S. as outrage mounts

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump points to a supporter at a Pearl Harbor Day rally aboard the USS Yorktown Memorial in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, December 7, 2015.

Reuters/Randall Hill

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States, comparing his plan to the World War Two detainment of Japanese-Americans and others in dismissing growing outrage from around the world.

The White House called on Republicans to say they would not support Trump, currently the party’s front-runner for the November 2016 election. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said his comments could undermine U.S. security.

The prime ministers of France and the United Kingdom, the United Nations, and Muslim residents of Asian countries all denounced the real-estate mogul’s comments.

But Trump said his ideas were no worse than those of then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who oversaw the internment of more than 110,000 people in U.S. government camps after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

“What I’m doing is no different than FDR,” Trump said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” program.

“We have no choice but to do this,” he said. “We have people that want to blow up our buildings, our cities. We have to figure out what’s going on.”

Trump on Monday called for blocking Muslims, including would-be immigrants, students, tourists and other visitors, from entering the country following last week’s California shooting spree by two Muslims who authorities said were radicalized.

It was the most dramatic response by a presidential candidate following the San Bernardino, California, shooting rampage, even as other Republicans have called for a suspension of President Barack Obama’s plan to allow in some refugees from Syria.

Homeland Security Secretary Johnson said Trump’s proposal could thwart U.S. efforts to connect with the Muslim community, and Secretary of State John Kerry said his ideas were not constructive.

A Trump campaign spokeswoman, asked for comment on U.S. officials’ reactions, did not address their criticism.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Trump’s comments disqualify him from being president and said other Republican candidates should disavow him “right now.”

In 1988, then-President Ronald Reagan signed into law a bill providing payments and apologies for Japanese-Americans who were interned during World War Two.

Trump leads the Republican pack seeking the White House in 2016 with 35 percent of support in a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll. His rivals nearly all criticized Trump’s proposal on Monday.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told the Washington Examiner that the United States must combat terrorism “but not at the expense of our American values.”

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, said Trump’s proposal was “not conservatism.” Republicans also warned that if Trump is the nominee, his stance could hurt in a general election against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

“Donald Trump is Hillary Clinton’s Christmas gift wrapped up under a tree,” Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said on Twitter.

Democrats, meanwhile, blamed Republicans for Trump’s extreme language and warned it could help him with primary voters.

“Unfortunately, Trump is leaning into the kind of fear of progress that very well could help him win the nomination,” Huma Abedin, a top aide to Clinton, said in a fundraising email declaring her own Muslim faith.

Polls have shown a stark divide between Republicans and Democrats in how they view Muslims. And Trump’s proposal reflects fear and insecurity after attacks in California and in Paris, where shootings and suicide bombings killed 130 people last month, rattled the world. Some conservative commentators such as pundit Ann Coulter came to Trump’s defense.

Trump’s campaign dismissed criticism that his plan would likely be unconstitutional for singling out people based on their religion. Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson told MSNBC that the U.S. Constitution does not apply to non-citizens.

The reaction from abroad was largely one of outrage. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Twitter, “Mr Trump, like others, is feeding hatred and misinformation.”

A spokeswoman for British Prime Minister David Cameron called Trump’s comments “divisive, unhelpful and quite simply wrong.” A group started a petition to revoke Trump’s honorary degree from Robert Gordon University in Scotland.

A spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon rejected Trump’s comments, and Muslims in Pakistan and Indonesia also denounced him.

Trump warned repeatedly that an attack on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001, could happen again if officials do not act first. He said that he did not know how long a ban would remain in place and that Muslim Americans would be allowed into the country after overseas trips.

Trump told MSNBC that people would be asked about their religion at U.S. borders and that the ban would extend to Muslim leaders of other nations. He said he would not support internment camps.

Some observers poked fun at Trump. British author J.K. Rowling wrote on Twitter that Voldemort, the archvillain of her popular Harry Potter series, “was nowhere near as bad” as Trump.

The Democratic mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida, Rick Kriseman, said in a tongue-in-cheek tweet that he was barring Trump from visiting the city.

“I am hereby barring Donald Trump from entering St. Petersburg until we fully understand the dangerous threat posed by all Trumps,” Kriseman wrote.

I just love how Trump keeps on coming up with great ideas, ideas that make old guard republicans & democrats lose their minds. He has single-handedly created his own designation as the Trump Party and I find the shake-up to be quite refreshing. All this and he isn’t even in office yet! Vote Smart–Vote Trump 2016

Far as that Harry Potter lady goes, being President of the US is not supposed to be a series of golf outings–We need someone who is unafraid to make the tough choices and I don’t mean when ordering dinner for the family when you are out at the most expensive place in town, filling up on the taxpayers dollar.

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